whatisacenter wrote:WarriorGM wrote:whatisacenter wrote:
and where are Jones and Bell now? Did every team they subsequently go to drop the ball as well or did the Warriors screw them up so badly that they are forever ruined?
The Warriors coaching staff did not even have an offseason with JW and no training camp or preseason. Give them an offseason before making such statements.
You ask "Did the Warriors screw them so bad that they were forever ruined?" I get the feeling you think the answer is "Of course not, Jones and Bell just didn't have the talent." But you know what? We really don't know, and now that you brought it up, if we're being honest it is a possibility. The first team an NBA player is on can really set the tone for that player's career.
If I'm not mistaken James Wiseman has now played more NBA minutes with the Warriors this season than Damian Jones played in all his three seasons with the team combined. Is he better than Jones yet? Jones may have been let go by the Lakers in his last stint after they signed Drummond but his play on that team from what I can tell couldn't be characterized as him being a black hole. When Jones was with the Dubs I thought he should have gotten more playing time to prepare him better. Unfortunately for him he had that injury during that critical last year with the team and he never really got back after that.
Jordan Bell had the highest plus-minus in one of the most important games in recent Warriors history. Anyone who remembers Game 7 of the Rockets series in 2018 should remember that Bell was the guy that tag-teamed with Steph during the latter part of the game to bring the Warriors back from the brink. That to me is evidence of chemistry with Steph in the most critical of times. I have no idea why the coaching staff did not seem to recognize it and was completely oblivious to it and willing to just throw it away with no noticeable effort exerted to make use of the potential chemistry that was uncovered. They let him languish on the bench and that's where he's been ever since until he finally fell off of even that.
As I recall the problem with Jones and Bell when they were here and that we're now seeing with Wiseman was that they were fouling like crazy like rookies and they never got better. It should be a concern that they have such similar bad traits.
The fact of the matter is that there is zero evidence that this team knows how to develop young athletic bigs. Nearly all the bigs that have had success with this team such as Bogut, Pachulia, and McGee developed their skills elsewhere. Looney would be the exception but he isn't an athletic big. He is a big in the Bogut and Pachulia mold. The only athletic big that has had success with this team is McGee and he left for what I find to be inexplicable reasons, the only hints being dissatisfaction with Kerr with his limited usage prior to leaving. The Warriors would probably love to have McGee now on the team. Maybe fans should ask more insistently "So why isn't he here?"
In all the failed cases the trail leads back to Kerr. You guys who idolize him will have to open your eyes.
I don't idolize Kerr or anyone but I also don't pretend to know better about the players than the front office and coaching staff who's future depends on getting the most out of the roster they have.
The Warriors were on a meteoric journey the likes the league hasn't seen in decades so it shouldn't be too shocking that the player development of players taken at the end of the first round and in the second aren't as high as players taken at the top of the draft. Jordan Bell only has himself to blame for getting bounced from the team when after his first season he thought he had arrived and did not take the offseason or training seriously. The team took a flyer on Jones who was often injured and cut bait when it was clear that he didn't have any skills besides being big.
Do I agree with everything the FO and coaching staff does? Nope, but I also believe it is kind of silly to point to a few players who have bounced around the league (McGee, Jones & Bell) as proof that they are incapable of developing talent.
Now if Wiseman comes back after an offseason, training camp and summer league at the same skill level he has after getting none of that this past offseason it will mean that they drafted or developed poorly.
I'll focus on one problem with Kerr regarding these centers I have that confounds me that I mentioned tangentially earlier. Give me a rational reason for it.
Back when the Warriors were a team winning easily they had these raw centers that they could play and develop. Instead of doing that they were benched and the main star players were given full run. Eventually the star players fell apart and got injured probably costing the Warriors a championship.
Now the Warriors don't win easily and need every win they can get. It's at this time though that Kerr has chosen to give the raw center as much play as possible even though when he plays he's dragging down the effectiveness of the other players.
Sorry I don't get it.
When it was easy to develop raw players, Kerr benched them. When it is difficult to develop a raw player he's playing Wiseman as much as possible. This makes no sense.
From the chatter I've heard and reading between the lines, it seems that while others in GSW management were leaning towards other players for the draft pick Kerr favored Wiseman. If so then Kerr has a reputational stake that is tied to Wiseman and that can explain why Wiseman has been getting minutes.
In short, Jones and Bell don't get developed when it is convenient to do so because Kerr doesn't have skin in the game with them while Wiseman does get developed even though it is inconvenient to do so because Kerr has added motivation to see him succeed. If this is the case, this isn't an objective approach to improving the team.
There's a whiff of office politics and favoritism that I get from Kerr that I just don't like. And I think as in the case of McGee and maybe Bell there have been instances where it has materially hurt the team.
